Oh, There Is The Wind!

All the wind we wanted for the crossing from Sanibel to the Keys arrived once we were anchored here in Marathon.   Book Key Harbor to be exact.  Twenty to 25 knots to be precise

With all the confusion over the anchoring issues here in Boot Key several of the local live aboards have migrated to different spots in the Harbor.  From this end to that end and back.  The whole east end of the "Bridge" anchorage is now a spiderweb of locals just far enough apart that you can anchor between them but you may need more than one anchor.

Seeing all the boats on the east end  we snugged up as close as we could without camping out right in the middle of the madness.  See,  the problem is that we get free internet at the east end of the anchorage and so wanted to catch up on things.  To expand on the spiderweb of locals were three homemade moorings that we decided to squeeze between.  Making almost half the anchorage occupied by locals.  The previous two years this anchorage of course had its share but there were more openings and half the locals used single hooks.  So here we sit just west of a large orange ball with SE winds and getting internet.

Good morning E wind!  My you are strong.  Goodbye internet, it seems we are 20 feet too far west now.  To make the best of things we head off to McD's for some processed food and a connection to post the previous couple entries.   After this we spent a couple days getting some land time, groceries and more fast food.  Then we decided to pull up the anchor and move!

Move twenty feet that is.  With a forecast for another 4-5 days of 20 plus winds our next destination Bahia Honda would not be as much fun.  Rowing in and out in 20+ knots trying to fish on the bridges with the strong current, etc all was more than I wanted at the moment.  So with the anchor dangling from the roller we slowly motored through the maze of triple anchored boats tying to find a comfortable spot.   We tried hooking up on the most eastern spot we could.  Basically with the anchor in the channel.  But before we could make it happen here came boats through.  Up came the anchor and we wove our way through once again.  Meeting a couple of the residents.  We finally decided to try it just east of the Orange ball.   As we settled in Chris from the boat beside us gave us his pointers and more "local" information.  Local information like that is Zack's ball, Chris's boat doesn't move so when the south wind blows...,  and so on.

So there we were, after all that effort about 40 feet from our original anchored spot.  But we had internet.

What to do?  Spend too much money of course!  Part of our land time from above was a day trip to Key West.  To get some lunch, walk around and return the Tiller pilot we were unhappy with.  We were spending too much on fast food and groceries.  The boat is stocked with goods to lost for months in the Bahamas but fresh produce and the Fisher King begging for Sushi makes a quick dent in the budget.

After almost a week here in the harbor I was ready to move on.  So that meant another trip to Publix or Win-Dixie for things we thought we needed.   This is when we met Zack.  He introduced himself and asked how long we were staying etc.  And was very polite and diplimatic that he was wanting to be back on his orange ball.  We told him that we were planning on leaving the next morning etc.  After making the grocery run got back to the boat I had an "Oh $3i#" moment.  I needed to renew my fishing license.  I didn't want to be in Bahia Honda and not be able to fish (there is an onsite base for Florida fish and game).  Row back today or tomorrow?  Tomorrow!  Another day here.

W